


when feeling leaves you numb

by anabundanceofnopes



Category: The Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Humor, M/M, Slow Burn, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27772576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anabundanceofnopes/pseuds/anabundanceofnopes
Summary: Eragon is having a rough transition to college life. His best friend Saphira is dating his roommate Thorn, and as the semester picks up he watches them slowly pull away from him, which also retracts his only real source of happiness and human connection. He finds himself spiraling into a depression as the universe seems to be pitted against him with petty inconveniences that are bound to severely bother socially anxious eighteen-year-olds. His only reprieve comes from his moody music appreciation classmate, who he gets closer to as he becomes his only trustworthy friend. Despite all the good Murtagh brings him, Eragon's own feelings confuse him more than he thought possible. How will he navigate this treacherous emotional territory on top of his new college studies?
Relationships: Murtagh Morzansson/Eragon Shadeslayer
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	when feeling leaves you numb

Eragon knew this would be a long day when he woke up, but his patience was already wearing rather thin around noon. His second week of college was treating him, frankly, like shit. 

There had been unprecedented amounts of rain over the weekend and, being as unprepared as one might expect a college freshman to be, Eragon had no protection against the downpour as he sprinted back to his dorm. He had just purchased all his textbooks for the semester at a local bookstore and unwisely decided that the ten minute walk to campus would be easy, even given the rain, which had been a slight drizzle at the time. Oh, how wrong he had been. 

At first he thought it would be possible to wait it out before he left the bookstore. So, he spent an extra fifteen minutes browsing the horror and history sections of the shop, only to turn his gaze outside once more and find an even heavier rain falling. Water flooding the streets reflected the storefront lights and his stomach filled with dread. 

The store clerk glanced at his worried face and said, “Sorry, kid, but it doesn’t look to be letting up anytime soon. Best of luck to ya.” He went back to dusting books behind the counter.

Eragon mumbled a thanks and clutched his stack of books to his chest. Taking a breath, he pushed out the door, hearing its bell chiming and the clerk yelling “Godspeed!” as he booked it down the sidewalk. 

Why was rain so loud? What business did it have assaulting every one of the senses at once? Well, maybe not all the senses, but enough. It obscured his vision, made his grip on his books unstable, filled his ears with the plink and patter of raindrops, made his feet slip and stumble on the uneven pavement. This last effect was what really tanked his day.

He had been doing marvelously well; avoiding deep puddles and slick inclines and obscured rocks. Getting into sight of the school, he picked up his pace and cut through the lush green grounds instead of taking the path, which would add precious time to his journey. He skirted some trees and bushes, sidestepped a couple fat roots poking their tendrils from the ground, when he took a step too quickly. Eragon felt more than heard his heel squeak in the wet, muddy grass as he pivoted, lost balance and landed in a heap on the ground beneath a willow tree. His books hit hard and slid away from him, fanning out in the flooding lawn. Cursing as he scrambled to his feet, he gathered his books and silently hoped that they would dry in time for class the next day. Water ran off his arms and weighed down his legs as he trudged into his dorm building at last. His room was on the third floor, and it was definitely an elevator type of day. His roommate was thankfully absent for the time being, which gave Eragon the chance to clean himself up and try to sort out his mess without prying eyes. Not that his roommate was the type to pry, but they had only known each other for a very short while and Eragon felt he had an image of respectability to maintain. 

Eragon had just stepped out of the bathroom in clean clothes, mentally preparing himself to assess the damage to his newly bought textbooks, when the door opened and in stepped his roommate Thorn. 

“Ah, the mighty return of Eragon!” Thorn said, tossing his keys on his bed and dropping his bag on the floor. He then noticed the sopping books and took a dramatic step back, hand flying to his heart. “My god, what have you done to the vessels of knowledge?”

Eragon awkwardly patted the books with a towel, wrapping them each individually and squeezing for a moment before moving to the next. “Well I didn’t have this in mind when I went to buy them,” he said, holding up Intro to Psychology and watching water drip from the corner for effect. Its plit plat on the floor was the only pathetic sound for a moment. 

Thorn sighed loudly. “True. I suppose I’ll let you use my weapon of choice on those poor souls.” He went into the bathroom for a moment and walked back to Eragon, handing him a sleek hair dryer. “Use the cool setting for the pages, yeah? They’ll turn out less crinkly I think,” he said. 

Eragon blinked at him. So that’s how he got his hair to look so swoopy all the time. “Yeah for sure, thanks man,” he said.

“Anytime dude.”

It was slow work, but after a few hours he got all the pages dry enough. They still ended up being crinkled, but probably not as bad as they would’ve been if he had let them air dry. Some mud stained the covers and edges of some pages, but that really was out of his power to fix. Thorn kept him entertained throughout the whole process, talking to him about his day and his friends. He started getting this soft look on his face, and Eragon knew he was in for a sappy story.

As expected, Thorn turned to him and said, dead serious, “I think I’m in love with an angel.”

Eragon grinned and asked, “What makes you say that?”

“Ugh, she’s just so perfect, you know? The way she looks at me when we’re talking. When she laughs at my stupid jokes. When she hides her smile behind her hands when we see something embarrassing in public. How she hums while writing essays on the psychology of romantic era composers.” He stretched out on his bed and put a pillow over his face and screeched into it. When he finished, he peeked out from under it and told Eragon, “She makes me so happy when I’m with her or thinking about her that I never want to be apart from her.” Tears welled up in the corner of his eyes.

Eragon, now slightly alarmed at the level of emotion being displayed, said, “I’m sure Saphira would be ecstatic to hear you say that. A-and she also surely feels the same!” Thorn had started sobbing into his pillow, from what Eragon hoped was joy and love for his girlfriend and not an existential terror of commitment. 

They spent the rest of the day quietly talking about Thorn’s love for Saphira and what classes they were taking that semester, and which ones they were least looking forward to. All in all, a not too horrible ending of the day.

Eragon had known Saphira for years. They had practically grown up together in Carvahall, and naturally gravitated towards the same college when the time came. Saphira was actually older than he and had graduated high school first, so his choice had been influenced by her whether he would freely admit to that fact or not. When Eragon was looking for a roommate the summer before college started, she had recommended a friend of hers that she’d been getting to know during her time there. He needed a roommate too, as his last one had transferred to a different city. It worked out since he didn’t mind sharing with a freshman, and Eragon was glad he wore Saphira’s stamp of approval. The two of them had officially started dating at the end of last semester, when Eragon was finishing high school. They clearly made each other very happy and were possibly the cutest couple in the entire country with all the sweet, longing gazes they sent each other across the room and the comfortable way they lowered their voices to talk while walking together, laughing loudly and unapologetically at times.

Eragon really could not find it within himself to be jealous. He could only admire them for their love and devotion to each other, and hope that one day he might find someone that makes him as happy as they made each other. Being in a relationship was the farthest thing from his mind though, as he needed to focus on his studies and try to make friends so he wouldn’t get lost in the bustle of life. Losing himself would be inevitable if he couldn’t put himself out there and meet good people who could help him stay grounded. 

So that was his goal going into week two of college. Make some friends so he wouldn’t go insane. He could do that. Easy.

(It was anything but.)

Every day of the week saw Eragon fail at his courageous plan to meet new people. After his psych class on Monday, he had almost approached a couple of witchy girls to ask if they’d like to go study together later for their first test, but a massive guy had walked up to them and started talking before he’d even had the chance to make eye contact with them. So he tried talking to a kid he sat next to in his next class, but the conversation fell away from him as soon as it started when he realized the guy wasn’t even paying attention to anything around him and was probably stoned out of his mind. When lunch rolled around, he tried sitting with a lone girl at an outdoor table overlooking the campus. She giggled at his inquiry to sit with her and said her friends were going to arrive at any minute and there wasn’t enough room for him to stay. Cheeks sufficiently red and burning, Eragon apologized and quickly vacated the area, instead sitting and eating under a tree near his next and final class of the day, music appreciation. 

In between bites of sandwich he checked his phone, relieved to see a text from Saphira. She wanted to hangout after class with him and Thorn. Eragon tapped out a response saying he’d love to, and any time after four would work. He set his phone down and finished his sandwich and figured he should start heading to class. He smiled as he saw an excited text from Saphira, which said they would meet him outside his dorm after class.

As interesting as music and the skill of appreciating it was, he really could not wait to leave that room. His eyes began wandering halfway through, and he found that there were a number of attractive people in the seats around him. How his notes became filled with sketches of his classmates, he could not say, but it surely helped pass the time. When they were let out at four o’clock he all but ran out the door and nearly tripped over a taller guy, who was also attempting a speedy escape, in his haste. 

“Hey—watch where you’re going,” the guy said gruffly. 

“S-sorry,” Eragon stammered, slightly intimidated by the guy’s dangerous look. Dressed in a dark but somehow eye-catching outfit, he gave off an aura of don’t mess with me if you want to live, and Eragon could imagine him cracking his knuckles in a dark alley before lighting up a cigarette and blowing smoke in teenagers’ faces. No way he was a freshman then. 

He made it back to his dorm without incident, dropped off his backpack and freshened up a little before heading back downstairs to meet his friends. As soon as stepped outside he was assaulted from the side by a hug from Saphira. 

“Eragon! God I’ve missed you so much!” she said, her voice rising in pitch as she squeezed her arms tighter around his neck. Thorn just grinned from behind her.

Eragon hugged her back and said, “I’ve missed you too, but you know it’s only been a couple months since I saw you.” She pouted at this. “Okay, okay, you’re right; two months is way too long!” She laughed then and he smiled back at her, happy to be reunited.

“Alright, now that we’ve got that out of the way,” Thorn began as he stepped towards them, “what do y’all say to getting some boba? I know a killer spot.”

Both Eragon and Saphira happily agreed. Thorn whooped and led the way, taking Saphira’s hand as they walked through campus. 

The boba was, indeed, killer. To the amusement of the cashier they all ended up coming right back for a second cup. They walked around the city, just talking and window shopping while slurping their bubble tea, pausing to laugh or marvel at items they saw. After seeing a particularly out of place Christmas display for the September month, they ended up in the park trying to skip stones on the lake. Saphira managed it the best, her stones barely breaking the reflected image of trees and clouds on the water’s glassy surface. The boys, however, seemed to be having more of a splash contest to see who could get the best splash, accounting for height and loudest sound. Eragon came out on top by Saphira’s unbiased judgement. Or as Thorn argued, her “so-called” unbiased judgement. 

It was rather late by the time Eragon returned to his dorm, alone since Thorn wanted to spend some extra time with his girlfriend. He was smiling to himself the whole evening, and even now couldn’t wipe the joy from his face. He hoped his luck would only get better from here. A promising start to the week was what he desperately needed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! Thanks for checking out my fic. This is my first work ever and I know this is a bit of a niche fandom at this point, but I’m jus tryna have fun! My goal for this is for the first half to be the lead up to them getting together, and the rest to be how they manage the difficulties of their relationship. Idk how long this will be but expect weekly updates. Any and all comments are wildly appreciated! xx


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